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Sunday, 2 April 2017

You have probably noticed the huge lack of content from us over the past year, and well, there is a reason. This is just a quick note to say thank you for reading over the last few years and we have appreciated your support. However, due to many factors we will be going on hiatus for a while. Now this doesn't mean we will be gone for ever, but for the meanwhile at least, there will be no new articles. We have all thoroughly enjoyed writing here for the past few years and we hope you have enjoyed them too. We hope to see you all again soon in the future!

Saturday, 26 November 2016

What I would like to see in KOTFE and Knights of the Eternal Throne (Updated Edition)!

Hey guys, sorry for the long, long break i have had from posting, but i'm slowly and surely making a return to writing. As some of you may have read months ago that i was still working on a post for CorellianRun. I still am determined to make my return it might just take some time. I also have been lacking some inspiration recently on what to write about much but that will (hopefully) change with the new expansion.I have decided to talk about what and who I most want to see return in the future KOTET expansion- which is very close to launch. Now KOTFE has had many different factions you could recruit from, ranging from Criminals from Belsavis to former Imperial and republic companions and characters. But there is one faction in the game that is being ignored. The Chiss Ascendancy. I remember playing my Imperial Agent for the first time and being captivated by the Chiss on Hoth and their story. I think that it would be really cool of Bioware included them in a recruitment quest or in the story to help fight against the Eternal Throne, as they would be really cool and unique allies that have been largely ignored since the 'Base' game itself. Also, what a great tie in for an Ensign Temple recruitment mission- seriously, she deserves to return.

Another Interesting idea that i would love to see show up is the many mercenary gangs that we have encountered throughout the galaxy. I know as said, that we have x- cons from belsavis, but in both Hunter and Smuggler stories as well as side quests and bonus missions, there are just so many possibilities you could explore instead of just finding a new 'old' companion each chapter. What happened to the Regulators after Makeb? It would be a nice idea to find out. Also, it would be fun to see what the hutts and other criminal factions have been doing during this time. Have they gone under ground? Will they join the alliance? Again, it would be nice to see more of what happened to certain factions in the Empire and Republic, other than some brief mentions in recruitment quests and during chapter four, we don't entirely know what happened. Will we be able to recruit more sith, or different imperials? I know we saw ships arriving on Odessen in the last chapter but a bit more development of who and what they are doing would be nice. Secondly, happened to Sith Intelligence after Lana Left? are their a ton of X-Imperial agents out there ready for recruitment? I really hope with this new focus on story some of these questions are answered and interesting aspects of the game are explored in more detail as it would really help flesh-out the universe we all disappear to now and then.

Lastly, I would really like to see some links to other Old Republic material, especially with the inclusion of Nathema from the Revan Novel. It would be great to see if there are going to be any references to him or what has been going on there since the novel. The blur trailer was far too enticing for them not to focus a large chunk of the story on that planet. I'm thinking Lord Scourge recruitment? That could tie into the novel very well and still giving people back another companion to use. I would be really interested to see his and Vitiate's reactions to each other. What would you like to see in the next few chapters of KOTFE?

Monday, 19 September 2016

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last few days, you would know Tokyo Game Show 2016 was running from the 15th to the 18th of September. A lot of things were announced, so here's my wrap up.Death Stranding
Death Stranding is looking up to being pretty hyped for me at least. It will be Hideo Kojima's first independant IP and he will be bringing Yoji Shinkawa (who worked as Metal Gear's Main Character and mechanical designer) to make Kojima's 'best work so far'. Death Stranding will have some small multiplayer and will be available 'before 2019'Nier: Automata
Relatively short, there was some more Nier: Automata gameplay from Square Enix with a confirmed playable demo before the end of this year. There was also a release date announced: PlayStation in Japan on February 23rd and a North American and European release early next year on PC and PlayStation 4.Final Fantasy XV
New English trailer for FFXV with a whopping 4 minutes long trailer. The game will have a hero name Noctis who was sent out of the city he is a prince to by his father, the King. Him and bodyguards set out in their flying car with their weapons and skills to find his kingdom in trouble. All this trailerdid was make me even more hyped for the game and hope even more for a PC release. (pls square enix pls pc release pls)

There was some more generic trailers like Call of Duty Infinite Warfare and Watch Dogs 2, and that was pretty much all I was interested in. I'm glad to see that Japanese publishers are smartening up and releasing for PC though, and I'm praying that Square Enix does for FFXV (plsplspls).

Wednesday, 7 September 2016

When rumours for the PS4 Pro first appeared, I was pretty sure that it wasn't true. "Surely," my younger, unwise mind of a couple of weeks ago said. "Sony wouldn't shoot themselves in the foot by attempting to divide its fanbase." But, alas, here we are, with all signs pointing to a more powerful PS4 console being released, and I'm here to tell you why I really don't think it's a good idea.

Let's start with why Sony would want to make a PS4 Pro. It's clear that it's a long way ahead of the competition sales-wise, so it would make business sense for it to make a more expensive console to capitalise on its big fanbase. Not only that, but Sony's consoles have always been flagships entertainment-wise: the PlayStation 2 could play DVDs, the PlayStation 3 started the Blu-Ray craze, and, if all goes to plan, the PS4 Pro should be able to play 4K Blu-rays, as well as stream 4K video from apps such as Netflix and Sony's new 4K service, Ultra.

However, it's very, very unlikely that the PS4 Pro will be able to play games in native 4K. Few PCs can actually handle the computational power required to play games in Ultra High-Definition at a sturdy framerate, and those that can cost thousands upon thousands of dollars. Upscaling aside, then, any potential boosts to performance would presumably improve upon the 1080p experience that we already expect.

But this misses the entire point of console gaming: everyone is on equal terms. People buy consoles because they want a system that's good for four or five years – one that can play the latest games and ensure that it'll always offer the exact same experience as everyone else. This new PS4 Pro, if it does boast hardware improvements, would undermine that. What's the point of building a big audience when you're just going to split them up again?

I get that Sony has room to experiment – its considerable sales lead isn't slowing down anytime soon – but I feel like this is a step too far. Many PS4 owners aren't too happy at the moment for a variety of reasons: the PS Plus lineups are getting more meagre by the month and many of the features found on the PS3 have yet to be incorporated into the newer console. It's true that the Japanese juggernaut has yet to massively slip up this generation – but this could very well be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

With PSVR launching this year, as well as some of the brand's biggest exclusive franchises getting new instalments, Sony needs to work on keeping the fans happy in order to get them on board for experiments to come. I definitely trust Sony as a company to make good decisions, but I feel that the firm shouldn't fracture fans just yet.

Tuesday, 6 September 2016

Ever since its reveal in this year's E3 Sony presentation (which had an amazing turnout of games), people have been speculating over what Kojima's next project, Death Stranding, will actually be. And with a Sony Conference right around the corner which could reveal more details on the game (or Red Dead Redemption 2, fingers crossed), there's no better time to talk about them.

Some have suggested a horror game, based on Kojima and Norman Reedus' previous (cancelled) collaboration project, Silent Hills. However, based on an article by Zam, Kojima has been quoted as saying:"It will be an action game if you really want to put a genre on it". That puts genre theories to rest, and probably saddens some of those hoping for a spiritual successor to Silent Hills.

An "Action Game" is a rather generalised genre though, so there are plenty of possibilities as to what the gameplay may actually entail. Any differences to previous experiences will be felt after the starting hours of the game, at least according to GamesRadar. Kojima likened it to how his famed Metal Gear franchise was considered an action game but had its now iconic mechanic of polished stealth and was bolstered by the franchise's equally recognisable story and lengthy Hollywood-esque cutscenes. .

So what will this game's unique mechanic/themes be? We have a few clues to work with.

Firstly, it involves a metaphor Kojima revealed - ropes and sticks. Action games of today feature the use of "sticks", in order to keep enemies at bay, i.e. the use of guns, swords, etc. This new I.P seeks to implement "ropes" into the Action genre, to "tie people together".

What accomplishes that? Not something very simple to figure out- it isn't like one can just google "opposite of sword" or "opposite of gun" to discover what it could possibly be. It could involve the mind however, as Kojima talks about how people are connected in terms of psychology, and how the aforementioned connection between peers is called "strands". Considering one of the words in the game's title is "Stranding" that could be a big clue. Or perhaps it's something much less subtle, like a survival game where you're alone, hence also "Stranding". While I think Kojima could produce a game of that nature, this just doesn't seem to be it.

No details about any multiplayer,other than it is a "new system". Not much we can go on there, but it could be any number of things, such as other players influencing your gameworld without being present, or seeing and interacting with the playerbase seamlessly.

Last but not least, Kojima looks to shake up the prospect of life and death when it comes to gaming. "In arcade games, you have this notion of dying, putting another quarter in." "In this game, life and death will be part of that, but I want to give a different twist to that notion". Now we have an idea of a possible mechanic...one that involves a twist on constantly resetting a level. Maybe it could have something to do with random generation or a different version on each life, think Silent Hills' resetting hallway loop, or switching perspectives somehow? In terms of themes, life and death were present in the reveal trailer, with the baby representing life, and the dogtags, fish corpses and possibly flying bodies representing death.

In the end though, it is very hard predicting what a mind like Kojima's can produce. The man made a psychic that could read your game saves, a man who's prosthetic hand actually possessed him by either nanomachines or psychic connection (two theories on that one), and gave gaming the biggest bait-and-switch of all time in the form of a certain blonde-haired now badass cyborg ninja. Who knows what he'll come up next?

One thing's for sure: he's had an excellent track record when it comes to games, and I for one am super hyped to find out what he has in store for his audience without Konami's input.